Exploring Local Petroglyphs and Grilling Supper.

Our Location today is at the Alamogordo/White Sands K.O.A. NM.

Click on the pictures to Enlarge.

This morning I was sitting at my Computer by 6:30 which not only allowed me to be up before the Sun but to have over half my reading finished before Kathy came downstairs for breakfast. We tried doing our On-Line Banking again this morning but still had to get the Special Security Code before it would let us into our own accounts After talking to Laurie about the frustrations this new measure is adding we were finally able to access our accounts.

We made certain to have lunch before heading out today not wanting a repeat of yesterday’s extremely late lunch. Kathy served up Perogies for lunch along with a piece of Fruitcake for dessert. We then set about packing our small Cooler before heading out the door.

Before going too far we stopped at the nearby Texico to add gasoline to the Truck. With all the driving we’ve been doing and plan to do we didn’t want the Gas Tank to get too low.

Our destination was the Three Rivers Petroglyphs Park which was only 33.5 Miles north of our location on US-54. There were a few delays due to Construction along the way but the mountains kept Kathy’s eyes peeled as she took it all in. Another slow down occurred as we passed through the town of Tularosa. After turning on Three Rivers Road we had a brief wait while a Mile Long Freight Train vibrated the ground around us.

Big Horn Sheep with Three Arrows in it.

When you arrive at the Office the first thing you need to do is register and pay the $5.00 fee but if you have a National Parks Pass it is Free. Steve the Ranger did a wonderful job of giving us a brief History of the Native Americans who lived in the area over a Thousand Years ago. Like other tribes they just left their settlement behind when their source of Water disappeared nearly Seven Hundred Years ago. It took over Six Years to document and photograph the over 12 Thousand Petroglyphs in this one small range. After giving us some Safety Tips he sent us on our way. This trail is Not Wheel Chair Accessible.

For those who don’t know what Petroglyphs are here is the On-Line definition.

Petroglyphs: are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Wikipedia

We had been warned that there was some Graffiti so we were sometimes leery of what we were seeing but the Graffiti usually had modern day Numbers or Letters which made it easy to spot. There were Eleven Markers near the beginning of the Trail showing you examples of Actual Petroglyphs but then the rest were left for you to find. 

Office in the middle. Truck to the right.

Kathy was determined to see as many Petroglyphs as she could even with the rise in altitude of nearly Six Hundred Feet and her Bad Knee she could put many to shame. It took us over Two and a Half Hours to travel the Rugged 1.2 Mile Trail. It felt good when we took a few brief stops to drink Gatorade and Water from the Cooler which made for a lighter load that I was carrying.

Checking out the Wildlife.

The Site we are staying on here at the K.O.A. actually supplies a Full-Sized Propane Barbecue to use. As soon as we arrived Home I started it up to grill some Spareribs while Kathy sauteed some Asparagus, and made Twice Baked Potato for the Sides. While the Spareribs were cooking instead of just standing around I used the time to Exercise between the Truck and Trailer. By the time our meal was ready to eat, I was feeling much better myself. Everything tasted Wonderful!

We’ve got more exploring to do in this area so it looks like we’ll be busy again tomorrow. Thank you for following along and feel free to leave a comment.

Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

Witty Words of Wisdom

Everyone has a photographic memory;

some just don't have film.